“One thing is that I wasn’t getting booked that well, and they had control over who got the awards, they had control over who sold.”

Highway robbery and white collar crime, and they laugh at the system they beat.

And you’d sure better not be doing it because it’s a way to make a living, ’cause that ain’t always going to be easy. You got to believe it, believe in the music. You got to mean it.

You’ve got to care about the music…You’d better not be doing it for the publicity, the fame or the money.

Don’t you be so nice to me; I fall in love so easily.

You know, in the days when I started, if you had Chet Atkins’ name on your record as a producer and it was on RCA, you could work the road. It didn’t have to be a big hit record, it just had to have that on it.

Was an American archetype, the bad guy with the big heart.

There’s always one more way to do things and that’s your way, and you have a right to try it at least once.

And yet his greatest desire was the simple warmth of love’s fire, cause it’s cold on the dark side of fame.

What I did. I’ve listened to it, and I think it was more a west coast rock thing, you know? But it fit. It was country, but it was my own interpretation of country.

I say, Lord, do right be me, I’m tired of being lonesome, on’ry, and mean.

I ain’t got no reverse. I’ve learned, a little later in life, it works out pretty good to have one every once in a while.

I was king of the mountain for a long time, well, I don’t want that no more.

Lately I’ve heard rumors that the eagle may be lame. Just because I’ve been idle, don’t mean that I’m tame.

This is getting funny, but there ain’t nobody laughing.

He gave us all a mind to think with and to know what’s right or wrong, he is that inner spirit that keeps us strong.

I don’t think there’s anything you can do this way or that way to change anything.

None grieve so ostentatiously as those who rejoice most in heart. [Lat., Nulla jactantius moerent quam qui maxime laetantur.]

It is a characteristic of the human mind to hate the man one has injured.

Rulers always hate and suspect the next in succession. [Lat., Suspectum semper invisumque dominantibus qui proximus destinaretur.]

Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement.

None make a greater show of sorrow than those who are most delighted.

He, that noble prize possessing He that boasts a friend that’s true, He whom woman’s love is blessing, Let him join the chorus too!

But the prize for courage will surely be awarded most justly to those who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger.

It’s much harder to act in a bad film than in a good one. A terrible script makes for very difficult acting. You can win an Academy Award for some of the easiest acting in your career, made possible by a brilliant script.